MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson this evening sentenced casino developer Ronnie Gilley, who admitted to trying to bribe lawmakers for their votes, to six years and eight months in prison.

Gilley's former lobbyist Jarrod Massey was sentenced to five years and five months in prison after also pleading guilty in connection with the bribery scheme. Former Rep. Terry Spicer, who admitted to taking monthly cash payments from Massey, was sentenced to four years and nine months.

Thompson handed down the sentences after an emotional and tear-filled day of testimony from family and friends, with the three men expressing remorse and describing the toll their crimes have taken on their families.

"I'm ashamed of myself. I'm not going to sit up here and make up excuses," Gilley said during the hearing.

The trio must report to prison by Aug. 27.

Prosecutors argued the men deserved substantial prison time because they committed serious crimes. Gilley and Massey pleaded guilty to offering legislators millions of dollars in campaign cash and other enticements to try to obtain their votes on 2010 gambling legislation. The legislation was aimed at sheltering Gilley's and other's electronic bingo casinos from state efforts to shut them down by holding a statewide referendum on the legality of the machines.

Thompson gave Gilley less than the more than 105 months prosecutors were seeking, but much more than the home confinement and weekends in the Coffee County jail that Gilley had requested.

Gilley lawyer David Harrison described his client as someone who was naive about politics and unsure of the line between lobbying and bribery.

Gilley said one reason he thought home confinement was a fair sentence was so that he could continue to pursue the development of Bama Jam Farms, a residential and recreational development with a waterpark, which he said would be a boon to the Wiregrass.

Thompson appeared nonplussed by the argument, inquiring whether all inmates with businesses didn't see their endeavors suffer when they went to jail.

Gilley choked back tears on the stand as he described his family, saying he worried he had failed to be a good role model for his sons and former foster son.

"I was brought to my knees and I'm on my knees now asking for mercy," Gilley said.

Massey told Thompson that he had lost his way after becoming become consumed by "winning" in the competitive world of the State House.

"We let winning cloud our judgment very poorly ," Massey said.

"I knew better," Massey said.

Massey was an up-and-coming lobbyist in Montgomery when he landed Gilley as a client. Massey had at one point resigned as Gilley's lobbyist but signed back on, a decision he said he regrets.

Massey wiped away tears on the stand as he described what he has done to his sons. "The toughest thing is knowing the road I've created for my family, my two boys, financially and otherwise," Massey said.

But Massey's wife and family described him as a person who had become a better man because of what he had endured and admitted.

"My dad knows what he did was wrong. He taught us what he did was wrong," said Massey's 15-year-old son, who was not identified in court.

While the sentencing hearings closed the federal investigation, the criminal proceedings might not be concluded. Lawyers disclosed during arguments that both Massey and Gilley had testified before a state grand jury. A prosecutor with the Alabama Attorney General's Office watched the day's proceedings.

Massey's cooperation with prosecutors led to Spicer's guilty plea on one count of federal programs bribery. Prosecutors said Spicer accepted regular cash payments from Massey, including $9,000 for a down payment on a ski boat.

"I know the trust and damage I have done to the Legislature is a bad thing and I apologize," Spicer told Thompson.

Spicer said Massey was a childhood friend, and he initially took money from Massey when he needed "help to make it through the month." Spicer said he did try to help Massey in his lobbying business and accepted a donation from Gilley, but he said he wasn't "selling a vote."

Spicer's wife testified that she has a debilitating form of arthritis and that her husband is the chief caregiver for her and their two teenage sons.

But prosecutor Kendall Day told Thompson that Spicer was still giving "nothing but excuses."

"This is very serious conduct. A state representative basically put himself on retainer to a lobbyist," Day said.